WALLIS, PETER (ED.), ADELARD OF BATH: THE FIRST ENGLISH SCIENTIST BY LOUISE COCHRANE WITH ADDITIONAL MATERIAL BY CHARLES BURNETT, BATH ROYAL LITERARY AND SCIENTIFIC INSTITUTION, 2013, 171 PP., ISBN 978-0- 9544941-3-1 (PBK) MARÍA DOLORES CEREZO BARRAGÁN UNIVERSITY OF CORDOBA The volume edited by Peter Wallis not only republishes a facsimile of Louise Cochrane’s original (first published in 1994 and out of print for years),1 it also represents a very successful attempt to include new material providing the reader with a broader historical context of Adelard of Bath and his times. As Wallis notes in the preface: ‘additional new material brings the story of Adelard scholarship up to date with an account of achievements since Cochrane’s book was written’ (p. xi). The book starts with a foreword by Prof. Jim Al-Khalili’s, which is followed by an acknowledgements section and a chapter devoted to picture credits. Bracketed by Peter Wallis’s preface, the opening pages consist of a general introduction by Peter and Edith Walllis and a prologue to Cochrane’s volume, ‘Louise Cochrane and her Book on Adelard’, by Prof. Charles Burnett. Julian Vicent’s map, which shows most of the places mentioned in Louise Cochrane’s book, is followed by Cochrane’s facsimile Adelard of Bath: The First English Scientist. In ‘Epilogue to Adelard of Bath’ introduced below, Charles Burnett offers insight into the new editions of several Adelard’s Latin works released after the publication of Louise Cochrane’s book in 1994. The edition is supplemented by two appendices: ‘Adelard Time Line’ by Michael Davis and Cochrane family’s ‘Louise Cochrane Biography’. In the original preface (pp. 21-22), Cochrane explained her interest in Adelard of Bath, stressing his fundamental influence on the development of scientific thought: ‘Adelard’s work influenced the development of architecture and even made a contribution to the processes of simple arithmetic’ (p. 21). Evoking her first visit to Bath City Reference Library, Cochrane underlined that in those days 1 Louise Cochrane, Adelard of Bath: The First English Scientist, London: British Museum, 1994. Mediterranea. International journal on the transfer of knowledge 2 (2017), pp. 229-233 ISSN: 2445-2378 © The author(s). Published by UCOPress. Cordoba University Press. All rights reserved. María Dolores Cerezo Barragán ‘only one book devoted to Adelard’s life was available, in German, published in 1935’ (p. 21) – not without mentioning the seminal volume edited by Charles Burnett’s (1987).2 Casting light on the transmission of scientific knowledge in Adelard’s times, Prof. Jim Al-Khalili’s foreword gives a short description of the Golden Age of Arabic Science. Al-Khalili refers to the translation into Arabic of the great texts of the Ancient Greeks, emphasizing the original works that ‘was added to humankind’s body of science by Arab and Persian giants like Avicenna, Alhazen, al-Khwārizmī and Bīrūni, to name but a few’ (p. vii). Focusing on Adelard of Bath’s achievements, Al-Khalili concludes that he was one of the most influential scholars of medieval Europe, highlighting his translations of some of the most important Greek and Arabic texts into Latin as well as his works on meteorology, astronomy, botany and zoology. The volume continues with an introductory section, ‘Adelard, his World and his Legacy’ (pp. 1-10), in which Peter and Edith Wallis introduces the reader to late eleventh and early twelfth century historical and city planning of Bath. The chapter represents a detailed summary of the educational and learning context in late eleventh century England, underling that French cathedral schools were setting for intellectual exchanges: ‘we know of several tenth century Englishmen who, like Adelard a century later, completed their education in France’ (p. 6). This ‘General Introduction’ ends with a broad overview of Adelard’s legacy, stressing Adelard’s significant collection of scholarly works – original contributions and translation from the Arabic. It focusing on Adelard’s translation of Euclid’s Elements, by specifying that it ‘brought to Western scholarship for the first time the use of theorems and proof to develop mathematical arguments’ (p. 7). It is worth bearing in mind that in this section, the authors not only refer to Cochrane’s 1994 biography, but also use different essays published after Cochrane’s original, ‘providing ample further reading on the subjects considered’ (p. 1). The opening pages continue with an introduction to Cochrane’s volume ‘Louise Cochrane and her Book on Adelard’ (pp. 2-14), in which Charles Burnett takes us into a different setting, as he deeply looks into the structure of Cochrane’s volume. With the aim of providing the reader a full picture of Cochrane’s interest in Adelard of Bath, Burnett explains how ‘Adelard of Bath: The First English Scientist marks the culmination of the interests of Louise Cochrane in mathematics, local history, the Middle Ages and (more generally) in communication’ (p. II). He also notes that Cochrane ‘started collecting copies on manuscripts and printed works on Adelard’ (p. II), clarifying that she became 2 Charles Burnett (ed.), Adelard of Bath : an English Scientist and Arabist of the Early Twelfth Century, London: Warburg Institute, 1987. 230 Review: Wallis, Peter (ed.), Adelard of Bath. The First English Scientist involved in Adelard after his Conference on Adelard of Bath – in fact, Cochrane’s article on Mappae clavicula was published on the basis on her contribution to the Conference. Thorough an overall perspective on the republished volume Burnett places a particular emphasis on the structure of Cochrane’s work. Cochrane’s facsimile, ‘Adelard of Bath: The First English Scientist’ (pp. 17-158), begins with the ‘Preface’ (pp. 21-22), and continues with the sections devoted to ‘Abbreviations’ (p. 23) and ‘List of Illustrations’ (p. 24), which are bracketed by the ten chapters that comprise the book. The first chapter of Cochrane’s volume, ‘Early Background’ (pp. 25-34), emphasizes that in the twelfth century, Adelard’s works marked a decisive stage in the history of ideas. Both Adelard’s translations and original works are detailed below, stressing his translation of Euclid’s Elements and al-Khwārizmī’s Zij, as well as Adelard’s reintroduction to Europe ‘the full corpus of Euclid’s geometry as a logical deductive method’ (p. 25). ‘Concerning the Same and the Different’ (pp. 35-45) is the second chapter of Cochrane’s volume in which a thorough description of Adelard’s De eodem et diverso is provided to the reader. ‘Tutor al Laon’ (pp. 46-55) delves into Adelard’s career in which he accompanied his nephew and other pupils to Laon. Cochrane explains that in this period of time ‘universities were not formally established in Europe, but popular masters would draw students from many places and cathedral schools developed reputations based on the work of particular men’ (p. 46). The next chapter of Cochrane’s volume, ‘Journey to Syria’ (pp. 56-64), attempts to explain Adelard’s way to Syria after leaving Laon, stating how it is likely that he traveled via southern Italy, Sicily and Greece. In the fifth chapter, ‘Return to England-Quaestiones naturales’ (pp. 65-76), Cochrane focuses on Adelard’s thinking by referring that this text ‘marks a transition in Adelard’s thinking with its emphasis on generalisations to his increased interest in natural philosophy and the application of ‘reason’ to scientific method in arriving at his conclusions’ (p. 66). ‘Falconry’ (pp. 77-93) highlights insights into Adelard’s treatise De cura accipitrum (‘On the Care of Falcons’), describing it as the earliest western European treatise on falconry, explaining that ‘the format is again dialogue between Adelard and his nephew. The following chapter, ‘Adelard’s translation of Euclid’s Elements’ (pp. 94-104), focuses on the three versions of Euclid’s Elements attributed to Adelard from the Arabic differentiated by Marshall Clagett. In ‘Adelard and al-Hhwārizmī’s Zij’ (pp. 105-116), Cochrane starts describing the importance of Adelard’s translation of al-Hhwārizmī’s Zij, by recognizing that ‘there are those who consider it to have been the more contribution to Western scientific thought’ (p. 105). ‘Adelard and Astrology’ (pp. 117-128), offers insights into the growing interest in astrology in the twelfth century as a result of the translations from the Arabic originated in Spain. In ‘The Astrolabe Treatise’ (pp. 129-138), Cochrane goes into De opera astrolapsus: ‘like his Regule abaci, this work is 231 María Dolores Cerezo Barragán intended to instruct on the method of using a particular piece of apparatus, and it is assumed that an astrolabe is at hand’ (p. 129). Cochrane devotes the section ‘Conclusion’ (pp. 139-140) to make a general reflection of Adelard’s intellectual development which ‘reflects trends now we established as representative of the history of ideas in the twelfth century (p. 139). Focusing on the additional material by Charles Burnett we find an ‘Epilogue to Adelard of Bath. Recent Adelard Scholarship’ (pp. 159-166) with a detailed introduction to the new editions of several Adelard’s Latin works released after the publication of Louise Cochrane’s book in 1994. For the purpose of gathering the recent Adelard scholarship, Professor Burnett begins by discussing new publications associated with Adelard’s natural science works, mathematics and astrology, keeping up with an overview on his contemporary influence; these sections are followed by a chapter in which the studies on Adelard’s doctrine and philosophy are explained. Burnett’s ‘Natural Science Works’ (p. 159) starts with a reference to Peter Dronke’s editing work, and explains that he commissioned the edition and translation of some of Adelard’s original Latin texts in the Cambridge Medieval Classics series, which resulted in the highly regarded Burnett’s volume Adelard of Bath, Conversation with his Nephew.